In life, we all encounter problems. To raise an independent child, it’s important to develop their problem-solving skills. This can be rather difficult to teach as there is no set way to solve a problem. However, at its crux, problem-solving consists of 6 main areas. Teamwork, research, emotional intelligence, risk management, decision making and creativity.
We have joined an independent school in Surrey to share tips on how to develop your child’s problem-solving skills.
Brainstorming
Lateral thinking is the ability to create new solutions by looking at a problem in different ways. This can help your child to overcome problems that are difficult to solve. To exercise this skill, ask your child brainstorming questions. This could be a question like ‘how many jobs require driving and what are they?’. There are very different ways to answer this question, prompting your child to think about all of the possible answers.
Group Sports
Sport is a good way to teach children how to work effectively in a team. Although it might not seem as obvious, team working is vital to problem-solving. It allows you to gain a better
understanding of a situation, find help and collaborate with others.
Theorising Outcomes
Forward-thinking is an essential part of problem-solving and to correctly solve a problem we need to consider how suitable the solutions are. This involves an element of risk management and to get your child to practice this you can start with play. What would happen if they were to remove a block from a building they’ve built or if they balance too many things on top of each other? These are all things that you can explore together.
Emotional Intelligence
Recognising emotion can allow children to understand problems better. By teaching your child what body language means. By knowing that another child is sad, your child can understand why they might not want to play and think of what to do to help.
Note: This is a collaborative post
No Comments